Boll breaking or crushing machine.



J. T. SOUTH.

sou BREAKING 0R cnusnme MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR- 13 1915- 1,15

0 Patented Oct. 26, 1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET I.

&"1 l a by 57 1;

38 J. T SOUTH J. T. SOUTH.

BOLL BREAKING 0R CRUSH ING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 13. 1915.

mamm Patented 00t,26,1915.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2. 4

un/human cotton with i "I. M l .lflhia JOHN T. SOUTH, OF RICE, TEXAS.

BOLL BREAKING OR CRUSHING MACHINE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, JOHN T. SOUTH, a citizen of vthe United States, residing at Rice, in the county of Navarro and State of Texas, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Boll Breaking or Crushing Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to improvements in boll breaking or crushing machines, and the principal object is to provide a. machine which will initially break the cotton bolls before the cotton with its bolls passes to the cotton gin.

A further object of my invention is to provide a machine of this character which is relatively simple in construction and which will efliciently crush all bolls fed to it.

A further object of the invention is to so construct the mechanism that it may be readily interposed in the air-line whereby the cotton is fed to the gin. I

A still further object of my invention is to so construct the mechanism thatthe air which carries the cotton to the boll crusher or breaker may also be used for carrying the its crushed bolls from the breaker to the gin, the boll crusher or breaker being separated from the air line so that the air in the main air line may not be impeded by its passage through the crushing mechanism andso that the cotton bolls as they are being crushed and broken will not be subjected to the action of the air which would tend to carry the dust or crushed particles from the housing ofthe crushing mechanism into the main air line and so to the gin.

lVith reference to the drawing wherein there has been illustrated a further embodiment of the invention as it is reduced to practice and throughout the several views of which similar reference numerals designate corresponding parts, Figure 1 is aninside face View of one of the end walls of the casing inclosing the crushing mecha nism, this view showing the fixed element of the crusher; Fig. 1 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view through the casing inclosing the crusher and showing the rotary element of the crusher and also showing the ejecting vanes; Fig. 2 is a frontelevation of the casing, the air-line or trunk being in section; Fig. 3.is a perspective view partly broken awayto show the air trunks or chutes Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Get. 26, 1%15.

' Application filed March 13, 1915. Serial No. 14,202.

through which the cotton is fed into the machine and discharged therefrom; Fig. a is a section on the line 14l of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a section on the line 55 of Fig. 2.

Referring more particularly to Figs. 1 and 1*, it will be seen that the crushing mechanism includes the housing or casing 10, the front wall 18 of which is removable, this front wall being provided on its inner face with a fixed crushing or breaking ele ment 11. The front wall 13 is preferably removable from the body of the housing 10 so that access maybe had to the interior thereof in case the material clogs therein.

The housing 10 is preferably rectangular in form and is provided in its top wall lat witha relatively long opening as indicated at 15. Through this opening 15 extends the upper terminal of a convolute partition 16 which defines within the casing 10 a substantially cylindrical drum 17. The inner end of the member 16 is secured by any suitable fastening devices, as at 18, to the top wall 14. The member 16 is of such width that it engages at its edges with the front and rear walls 13 and 19, respectively, of the housing. A pair of side plates, indicated at 20, define in connection with the upper end of the member 16 a tangential passage through which the cotton may exit into the feed chute 36 which leads to the gin.

The fixed crushing element heretofore designated by the numeral 11, includes a centrally located boss or head 22 from which radiate a number of boll crushing or breaking ribs or vanes 23. A certain number of these ribs are omitted, as for instance, be tween the ribs 2A and 25, in order to accommodate an opening 26 provided for the discharge of cotton into the crusher in a manner to be hereinafter more fully described. A single vertical rib 27 is provided in this clear portion of the wall 13 to take the place of the omitted ribs.

The rotatable crushing or breaking member 12 consists of a circular plate 28 having a centrally located head 29 and a plurality of crushing ribs 30 which radiate therefrom andare in length equal to the crushing ribs 25. The plate 28 is keyed on a shaft or axle 81 which is journaled at one terminal in the rear wall 19 and at the other terminal in a socket formed in the head member 22 of the fixed crushing element. The ribs 30 are, of course, spaced a slight distance from the ribs 23 when the machine is set up for use. The

combined width of the ribs 23 and 30 and the space between them is such that the circular plate 28 is approximately disposed at the middle plane of the housing 10. It will thus be seen that a cylindrical chamber is defined between the rear wall 19 and the plate 28. In this chamber operate the discharging blades or vanes 32 which are keyed on the axle 31 or attached to plate 28 and are of a width substantially equal to the distance between the plate 28 and the rear wall 19. These blades 32 are adapted to discharge the crushed cotton bolls from the drum 17 through the exit passage at the top of the drum.

On the front of the housing 10 is mounted a wind trunk 33 which constitutes the feed chute through which the cotton bolls enter the crusher. The terminal of this trunk 33 which is adjacent the front wall of the crusher is shaped to produce the downwardly and angularly extending passage 34 which leads directly to the opening 26. The top wall of the trunk or chute 33 is cut away, as shown in Fig. 4;, to produce an opening over which is mounted a screen 35. This opening discharges into a second wind trunk 36. This trunk 36 leads to the huller gin of the plant. In order that the cotton bolls after having been crushed may be conducted to the huller gin, the trunk 36 is provided in its side wall with an opening 37. This opening 37 is in communication with the tan gential passage at the upper end of the drum 1 17, as best shown in Fig. 1.

From the foregoing description, the manner in which the machine operates will now be appreciated. It will be seen that the cot ton and bolls which are forced through the air chute 33 under compressed air are urged down the angular passage 34, through the entrance opening 26, and into the space between the fixed and rotary crusher members. As the bolls are crushed they drop to the bottom of the drum from whence they are I lifted by the "anes 32 and thrown out through the tangential opening defined by the upper end of the member 16 and the side plates 20. The crushed bolls and cotton are thus discharged into the trunk 36 which leads to the huller gin. Thus it will be seen that one air line is employed to both feed the bolls into the crusher and to conduct them "after they have been crushed to the huller by the crushing of the bolls,

gin. In this connection it is to be observed that the air which forces the bolls through the chute 33 passes through the screen 35 into the discharge chute 36 where it again picks up the bolls as they are thrown out of the crusher.

In order to exhaust from the drum 17 the major portion of the dirt and dust produced I provide the discharge hopper 38 which is located at the bottom of the drum and leads through the bottom Wall of the housing 10. To this hopper is connected the dirt chute 39, the lower end of which 'is provided with a cut-off valve 40. I desire to herein direct particular attention to the importance of the manner in which I have connected the entrance and discharge chutes 33 and 36 to each other and to tliecrusher housing for it has been found in practice that this constitutes one of the main features making for the eiiiciency of the invention.

The specific advantage of my construction is that the air current is divided into a major stream and a minor stream at the junction of the trunk 33 with the trunk 36, the main stream being carried along the trunk 36 to the gin with but slight impediment, while the minor stream and the cotton is deflected downward into the housing 13 which entirely inc-loses the crushing mechanism. It will be seen by reference to Fig. 4 that the ejecting blades 32 are separated from the boll crushing blades and from the boll crushing space by the disk 12 which carries both the ejecting blades and the crushing blades, and that the rotation of the disk is such that the blades carry the bolls of cotton downward and past the hopper 38. The crushing space formed between the disk 28 and the wall 13 of the housing is practically entirely separated from the trunk 36 by the imperforate wall which forms the bottom of the trunk 36 and which extends transversely across the housing, as illustrated in Fig. 4. Furthermore, the direction of rotation of the blades 30 is such as to carry the air entering the crushing space through the branch 34 downward into the lowest portion of the housing. Thus the cotton entering the crushing space through the branch 34- will not be effected by the air current in the trunk 36, and hence the dust caused by the breaking up of the cotton bolls will not be carried'out directly into the trunk 36, but the cotton, the dust and the particles of broken bolls will be carried downward and past the opening of the hopper 38 so that the dust and particles will drop downward into the hopper while the lighter cotton which cannot pass through the meshes of the screen extending over the hopper will be carried upward by the ejecting blades or vanes 32 and forcibly ejected into the air trunk 36, when it is again subjected to the action of a current of air in the main airline. It will thus be seen that the cotton is as it were by-passed around the main air trunk. In other words, the cotton is withdrawn from the main air line, treated, and then again ejected into the main air line.

It will also be noted that the blade carrying disk 12 is in a plane at right angles to the trunk 36 so that the air entering through the housing into the crushing space impinges againstthe face ofthe disk, so that its natural onward movement iss'topped or checked and the air is mechanically deflected downward by the blades 30 and loses its momentum. The only opening from the housing into the trunk 36 is the opening 37;

This opening is spaced from the'entrance opening 26 and is partially separated there-' fromby the curved wall of the housing, as shown in Fig. 1 and is further separated therefrom by the blades 30 Which sweep across the opening 26. Thus whatever air enters the opening 26 will not take a direct course upward and into the trunk but will be checked in its onward movement, carried downward, and then the air and the crushed bolls will be forcibly ejected into the trunk 86. Inasmuch as this trunk 36 has a very strong current of air passing through it, it will act to draw air from the upper end of the chamber 17 in which the ejecting blades work.

In reduction to practice, it has been found that the form of this invention illustrated in the drawings, and referred to in the above description as the preferred embodiment, is the most efficient and practical; yet realizing that the conditions concurrent with the adoption of this device will necessarily vary, it is desirable to emphasize the fact that various minor changes in details of construction, proportion and arrangement of parts may be resorted to, when required, without sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention, as defined in the appended claims.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a cotton boll treating mechanism, a cotton feeding air trunk, a delivery air trunk, boll crushing mechanism, a housing entirely inclosing the boll crushing mechanism and separating the boil crushing mechanism from the delivery air trunk, said housing at its end having an opening discharging into the delivery air trunk, the feeding air trunk opening into the delivery air trunk and having a branch discharging into said housing.

2. In a boll crushing and cotton treating mechanism of the character described, housing, boll crushing mechanism mounted therein, an air trunk having a downwardly extending branch entering said housing, means for deflecting cotton downward through said branch but permitting the air to pass along said trunk beyond the branch, one end of the housing having an opening into the air trunk beyond said deflecting means, said opening being located beyond the crushing mechanism.

3. In a boil crushing mechanism of the character described, a housing having an inlet opening on one side, a fixed crushing element and a rotatable crushing element mounted within said housing, a cotton feeding air inlet trunk having its terminal end extended downward and discharging into theopening in said housing, a discharge trunk extending parallel to the first-named trunk and transversely across the housing andinto which the housing opens at one point, means operating in conjunction with the rotatable crushing element for discharging bolls from said housing int-o saidsecond-namedtrunk, and means for directing the air from the first-named trunk into the second-named trunk to cause the discharge of cotton and crushed bolls through the second-named trunk.

l. In a boll crushing mechanism of th character described, a housing having side walls, one of said walls having an opening, a plurality of ribs formed upon said side wall, a bearing mounted upon said side wall, a rotatable crushing element mounted within the housing and comprising a disk having radiating ribs, a shaft upon which said disk is mounted having a bearing, one end of the shaft being supported in said bearing a casing wall extending for a portion of its length approximately concentric to said shaft and spaced from the periphery of the disk the outer portion of said casing wall extending eccentrically to the shaft and tan gentially out through said housing to form a discharge passage, ejecting blades mounted upon said shaft and having a length equal to the radius of the concentric portion of said wall, an air and cotton inlet trunk discharging into said opening in the side wall of the housing, a discharge trunk having one end superposed upon the first-named trunk and extending across the discharge opening of the housing, there being an opening leading from the terminal end of the first-named trunk to the adjacent end of the second-named trunk, and a screen eX- tending across said opening.

5. In a cotton treating machine, a housing, cotton boll crushing mechanism disposed within the housing, an air line, a branch extending from the air line into one end of the housing. means disposed adjacent said branch for deflecting cotton into the branch but permitting the air to pass con tinuously along the air line, the opposite end of the housing having an opening discharging into the air line beyond the said branch, and means disposed within the housing for ejecting cotton through said opening.

6. In a cotton boll treating mechanism, a housing, a fixed crushing member mounted on one wall of the housing, a rotatable crushing member disposed in conjunction therewith and including a rotatable disk, ejecting blades mounted on the other side of said disk, an air line extending transversely of the housing and said disk, that portion of the housing containing the ejecting blades having an opening discharging into the air line, a branch from said air line leading into that opening through that Wall of the housing adjacent to the crushing mechanism, and

' means for deflecting the cotton through said branch but permitting the air to pass continuously along-the air line.

- 7. In a cotton boll treating machine, a

housing, fixed and rotatable cotton boll crushing devices mounted within the housing, an air line extending transversely across the housing at right angles toithe direction OflOtEtblOIl of the boll crushing mechanism, a branch extending from said .air line into the housing and discharging cotton into the boll crushing mechanlsm,

means for directing the cotton into said branch but permitting the air to pass along the air line beyond the housing, said housing having an opening in one Wall discharging into the air line, and means disposed Within the housing for ejecting crushed bolls through said opening.

8. In a boll crushing mechanism of the character described, a housing having side walls, a plurality of ribs formed upon one trio portion of said wall, one wall of the housing having an inlet opening adjacent the crushing elements, another wall of the housing having a discharge opening through which the ejecting blades discharge the cotton,

In testimony whereof I hereunto afiix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

JOHN T. SOUTH.

Vitnesses O. F. FLQUIN, S. GIPsoN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

' Washington, D, 0. 

